News archive from 22 December 2013

Graeme Swann has announced that he is quitting the England team with immediate effect.
The 34-year-old spinner will stay in Australia with his family, but will not take part in the remaining two Ashes Tests after making the dramatic announcement on...

The Mail on Sunday has lead the way in the campaign against concussion and the work has been recognised by leading figures in rugby.
Here are some of the pieces which have forced the Rugby Football Union to admit that more needs to be done to tackle...

Despite the chilly temperatures, Coleen Rooney stepped out dressed as if it was the summer in a LBD as she enjoyed a date with husband Wayne on Saturday.
The mother-of-two looked stylish in her flared number when she arrived at the Manchester Arena to...

Natalie Gumede and Artem Chingvintsev kept a smile on their face after being defeated by Abbey Clancy and Aljaz Skorjanec on Saturday night's Strictly Come Dancing final.
But it was a different story earlier on in the evening when the pair performed...

David Coleman, centre, with Emlyn Hughes and Bill Beaumont on A Question of Sport in 1985. Photograph: Allstar/BBC David Coleman, a dominant voice of television sport for almost four decades, has died at the age of 87, leaving a generation of football...

Representatives from the Muslim Council of Coventry hand out white roses to fellow mourners at the site where Lee Rigby was murdered. Photograph: Andy Hall For The Observer Muslim organisations are to ask the director general of the BBC to explain the...

David Tennant as Richard II. Photograph: Geraint Lewis/Rex Features The revered Kenneth Tynan, who reviewed theatre for the Observer in the 1950s and 1960s, said: "A good drama critic is one who perceives what is happening in the theatre of his...

Armando Iannucci: 'If you're larger than life in Britain, people think you're a nutter.' Photograph: Linda Nylind for the Guardian You turned 50 recently. How did you celebrate?
Buy it from Buy the DVD I went to the cinema in the middle of the day to...

Who killed Danny Latimer? 10 million of us tuned into Broadchurch to find out. Photograph: ITV Doctor Who turned 50; BBC4 showed its last biopic (Burton and Taylor, with Dominic West and Helena Bonham Carter); Netflix arrived and turned TV watching on...

Orla Brady photographed by Antonio Olmos for the Observer at the Stafford Hotel, London. "It was exhausting to be young," Irish actress Orla Brady, 52, tells me frankly. "There was this critical voice going, 'Hopeless.' And now I like...

A still from Christiane F (1981) Photograph: Ronald Grant Archive One of the easiest places to find heroin in Paris is in the streets in and around the Gare du Nord, a stone's throw away from the Eurostar terminal. I know about this place partly...

The Today programme's Mishal Husain: only one in eight breakfast and drive-time shows are hosted by a woman. Photograph: Graeme Robertson Changes at the top of the BBC meant that we finished the year with a clear statement of intent. The BBC is...

Many people drink every day in the runup to Christmas. Photograph: CandyBox Photography/Alamy More than half of us have had our first Christmas Day drink by lunchtime in order to cope with the stress of the day, a survey suggests.
Some 58% of Britons...

Miranda Hart has spoken of loneliness and struggling with fame in an interview for Desert Island Discs. The comedy actress told the BBC Radio 4 programme she felt it was "all a bit too much" a year ago, but was now feeling "happier and...